MFA celebrates the photography of Yousuf Karsh

Sunday

Sep 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2008 at 3:02 PM

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Yousuf Karsh's birth, the Museum of Fine Arts is exhibiting a broad sampling of memorable black-and-white photographs that display his eye-catching artistry throughout the arc of his career.

Chris Bergeron/Daily News staff

When taking his world-famous portraits, Yousuf Karsh sought to reveal his subject's "hidden" character by capturing ephemeral emotions concealed beneath the mask of celebrity.

Combining a courtly demeanor with darkroom brilliance, the Armenia native photographed royalty and despots, starlets and artists transforming their public faces into iconic images.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Karsh's birth, the Museum of Fine Arts is exhibiting a broad sampling of memorable black-and-white photographs that display his eye-catching artistry throughout the arc of his career.

Pablo Picasso gazes with penetrating eyes past a vase bearing the figure of an amply endowed nude. Regal yet reserved beneath her crown, Princess Elizabeth stands at rest in her royal gown. Pale as a corpse, a cadaverous Andy Warhol holds a paintbrush in his delicate, hairy hands.

The just-opened exhibit, "Karsh 100: A Biography in Images," comprises about 100 images including famous personalities and lesser-known landscapes, experimental shots and photos of Canadian laborers and landscapes that show another side of the artist.

Organized by curator Anne Havinga, the exhibit presents a balanced, visually pleasing portrait of one of the 20th century's great portrait photographers.

The MFA's Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh senior curator of photographs, she attributed Karsh's ability to freeze a subject's character in memorable images to "his uncanny ability to make people feel at ease."

Born in 1908 in the former Eastern Ottoman Empire, now present day Turkey, Karsh achieved international recognition following decades of diligent preparation. After relatives were killed during the Armenian genocide, his family moved to Syria and Karsh was sent in 1924 to live in Canada with an uncle who was a professional photographer. Impressed by his nephew's ability, his uncle sent Karsh to Boston to serve as an apprentice with John Garo, an experienced photographer who became his mentor.

Karsh's best-known work, a portrait of a defiant Winston Churchill that launched his career, resulted from a fortunate mix of the photographer's determination and instinctive professionalism, Havinga said. Allowed only two minutes to photograph Churchill, who was visiting Canada just weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she said Karsh "respectfully" plucked a cigar from his lips, prompting an expression of indomitable will that came to represent British resistance.

Opening the exhibit, Estrellita Karsh said her late husband photographed "people who mattered, people who left their mark on the world."

"I hope this exhibit shows what kind of person Yousuf was. I think it shows the intertwining of his personality and work because they are one and the same thing," she said.

Shedding a different sort of light on Karsh's personal and technical approach, the exhibit also includes one of his large-format cameras, preparatory studies for his portraits and a revealing transcript of a conversation with Albert Einstein during a 1948 photo session that clearly intended to put the great man into a pensive mood.

In a revealing back-and-forth, Karsh asked Einstein about possible connections between music and mathematics, the likelihood of Russian imperialism and whether he felt optimistic about the future during the atomic age.

Throughout the mid-20th century, Havinga said, "Karsh's name became synonymous with the highest level of photographic portraiture and being 'Karshed' was an honor for sitters."

Visitors to the show will feel as if they're viewing a cavalcade of 20th century stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Ernest Hemingway, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Rudolf Nureyev, the Duchess of Windsor, Harry Truman, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ronald Reagan.

Jerry Fielder, who served as a consultant for the show, praised Karsh for his meticulous preparation for each photo session and expertise editing his images. The curator and director of Karsh's estate, he explained the artist typically shot with a large-format camera that used an 8-by-10-inch negative that captured his subjects in remarkable detail.

Fielder said Karsh usually shot about 15 negatives for every two-hour session. "Yousuf researched his subjects for talking points during the session. And he had an extraordinary control of light. In the dark room, he was the master of light and composition," he said.

But in the act of shooting, Karsh aimed to capture on film "the vision of people he saw," said Fielder. "He was always looking for what was natural in his subjects."

Karsh's images became so ingrained in the popular mind that viewers passing through the galleries may have the curious sensation of seeing famous people who looked just like they thought they would.

Sitting beneath a horned elk skull, a black-clad Georgia O'Keeffe resembles a monk meditating in an austere cell. Wearing a dark burnoose and white hood, Ibn Abdul Aziz Faisal, who became king of Saudi Arabia, appears to be lost in deep thought. Practically spilling out of her gown, sexy Swedish starlet Anita Ekberg purses her lips and closes her eyes in a seemingly private rapture.

Many of Karsh's best-known portraits feature a subject whose features are illuminated by studio lights set against a dark background.

Sometimes that format contributes to a posture or expression that belies our expectations.

A viewer might reasonably wonder did Karsh actually "capture" his subjects' true characters or merely confirm public expectations of what a statesman, Hollywood ingenue or tormented artist would look like?

In a memoir titled "Portfolio," Karsh wrote of photographing the famous: "The endless fascination of these people for me lies in their inward power."

"It is part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone and it has been my life's work to catch on film. The mask we present to others, and too often to ourself, may lift only for a second - to reveal that power in an unconscious gesture, a raised brow, a surprise response, a moment of repose. This is the moment to record," Karsh said.

Estrellita Karsh expressed hopes the exhibit conveys her late husband's abiding affection for Boston as a place where he established his signature style while living in difficult conditions.

"For Yousuf, it began in Boston. It happened in Boston. He called Boston his spiritual home. He called this museum his university," she said. "The man who lived in the YMCA now has works in the permanent collection of the MFA. The wheel has turned full circle."

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is open seven days a week. Hours: Saturday through Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; and Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.; (Thursday and Friday after 5 p.m. only the West Wing is open).

General admission (which includes two visits in a 10-day period) is $17 for adults; $15 for seniors and students 18 and older. Admission for students who are university members is free as is admission for children under 17 during non-school hours.

The MFA is offering several courses, events and activities in conjunction with this exhibit.

A 4-course session on "Photography: People, Places and Points of View" will be offered Tuesdays, Nov. 11 and 18, Dec. 2 and 9, from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Remis Auditorium. The course will also be offered on Wednesdays, Nov. 13 and 19, and Thursdays, Dec. 4 and 11, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Riley Seminar Room. The course is $72 for MFA members; $88 for non-members; for single sessions, MFA members, $20 and non-members $25.

On Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m., Sally Mann will discuss her award-winning photography in the Remis Auditorium. MFA members $18; non-members, $22.